is a Japanese

light novel A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a '' wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English languag ...

series written by

Keiichi Sigsawa is a Japanese light novel author. In 2000, his work ''Kino's Journey'' was a finalist for the 6th Dengeki Novel Prize, and was subsequently serialized in '' Dengeki hp'' magazine in March of the same year, marking his debut. ''Kino's Journey'' ...

and illustrated by

Kouhaku Kuroboshi , also known as , is a Japanese illustrator and character designer. He is from the Kanagawa Prefecture and lives in the Fukuoka Prefecture. He is probably best known for his frequent collaborations with writer Keiichi Sigsawa as the illustrator/ch ...

. The series is a spin-off of

Reki Kawahara is a Japanese light novel author. He is best known as the creator of ''Sword Art Online'' and ''Accel World'', both of which have been adapted into anime. He has also written '' The Isolator''. Career Kawahara wrote the first volume of ''Swor ...

's ''

Sword Art Online is a Japanese light novel series written by Reki Kawahara and illustrated by abec. The series takes place in the then-near future and focuses on protagonists Kazuto "Kirito" Kirigaya and Asuna Yuuki as they play through various vir ...

'' series. A

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...

adaptation by Tadadi Tamori launched in 2015, and an

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series adaptation by studio

3Hz is a Japanese animation studio established by ex-Kinema Citrus is a Japanese animation studio, founded on March 3, 2008, by former Production I.G and Bones members and based in Suginami, Tokyo. Its business directors are Muneki Ogasawara, ...

aired between April and June 2018. Both the light novels and the manga adaptation are published in North America by

Yen Press Yen Press, LLC is an American manga and graphic novel publisher co-owned by Kadokawa Corporation and Hachette Book Group. It published '' Yen Plus'', a monthly comic anthology, between 2008 and 2013. In addition to translated material, Yen Press ...

, while the anime is licensed by

Aniplex of America Aniplex of America Inc. or Aniplex USA is the U.S. distribution enterprise of Aniplex, an anime and music production company owned by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. It was established in March 2005 in Santa Monica, California, with the goal o ...

Plot

Due to the incident that occurred in VR

MMORPG A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

''—where 10,000 players were trapped in the game on launch day—the popularity of VR games has plummeted due to fear of similar incidents. The NerveGear, SAO's VR device, was recalled and destroyed, but with the launch of its successor, the AmuSphere, combined with release of the license-free development support package the "Seed", the popularity of VR games saw a sudden resurgence. The story follows Karen Kohiruimaki, a university student with a

complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

about her abnormal height. She begins playing a VR game called ''Gun Gale Online'' after it gives her the short, cute

avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appear ...

that she has always wanted.

Media

Print

Dengeki Bunko is a publishing imprint affiliated with the Japanese publishing company ASCII Media Works (formerly MediaWorks). It was established in June 1993 with the publication of '' Hyōryū Densetsu Crystania'' volume one, and is a light novel imprint ai ...

announced on September 18, 2014, that

would be writing a

based on

's ''

'' light novel series. The series is supervised by Kawahara and illustrated by

, and

ASCII Media Works ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because o ...

published the first novel under the Dengeki imprint on December 10, 2014. During their panel at

Anime NYC Anime NYC is an annual three-day anime convention held during November at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. Programming The convention typically offers arcade games, an artist alley, concerts, manga library (Carolina Manga ...

on November 18, 2017,

announced that they had licensed the series. Tadadi Tamori launched a

adaptation in

''seinen'' manga magazine ''

Dengeki Maoh is a Japanese seinen magazine published by ASCII Media Works (formerly MediaWorks). It first went on sale on October 27, 2005, and is sold every month on the twenty-seventh. The magazine features information on video games, manga, and light nove ...

'' on October 27, 2015. During their panel at Sakura-Con on April 15, 2017,

announced that they had licensed the series in North America. TM Pink FN P90

Anime

television series adaptation was announced at the Dengeki Bunko Fall Festival 2017 event on October 1, 2017. The series is directed by

Masayuki Sakoi is a Japanese animator, storyboard artist, and director from Kagoshima Prefecture. He is a professor in the department of design at Sapporo City University in Hokkaido, Japan. Anime involved in *'' A3!'': Series Director *''Aishiteruze Baby'': E ...

, written by

Yōsuke Kuroda is a Japanese anime screenwriter from Mie Prefecture, Japan. He has his own studio enterprise, Studio Orphee. Kuroda is noted for his work on authoring the scenario, screenplay and story composition of the anime series ''Excel Saga'', ''Please ...

, produced by

Egg Firm is a Japanese company with its business focused on production, planning and management for anime. History The company was founded in March 2015 by ex-Genco producer Nobuhiro Osawa with the objective of being a production and planning company for ...

and animated by studio

, with character designs by Yoshio Kosakai. The opening theme song is by

Eir Aoi is a Japanese singer from Sapporo, Hokkaido, signed to Sacra Music. After being discovered through the Japanese video sharing website Niconico, Aoi made her major debut in 2011 with the release of her first single "Memoria", whose title track ...

and the ending theme song is "To see the future" by Llenn (

Tomori Kusunoki is a Japanese voice actress and singer who is currently affiliated with the Sony Music Artists agency. She made her voice acting debut in 2017 and in the same year, she was cast in her first main role as Kirara, the heroine of the Japanese mobil ...

). The series aired in Japan between April 8 and June 30, 2018, on

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV, branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon TV, TV Asahi, NH ...

, BS11,

Tochigi TV The Japanese Association of Independent Television Stations (JAITS) is a group of Japan's reception fee-free commercial terrestrial television stations which are not members of the major national television networks. The association was establish ...

Gunma TV The Japanese Association of Independent Television Stations (JAITS) is a group of Japan's reception fee-free commercial terrestrial television stations which are not members of the major national television networks. The association was establish ...

, MBS and

TV Aichi JOCI-DTV, branded as , is a television station in Nagoya, Japan operated by the Aichi Television Broadcasting Company, Ltd. (TVA; ja, テレビ愛知株式会社, Terebi Aichi kabushiki gaisha) and is an affiliate of the TX Network. Broadcast ...

. The series was released on 6 home video sets with 2 episodes each, for a total of 12 episodes.

has licensed the series and simulcast the series on

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and t ...

and

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television series ...

Anime Limited Anime Limited, also known as All the Anime is a British anime distribution company based in Glasgow, Scotland. It releases anime for British, Irish, French and other European audiences. The company was established in 2012 by Andrew Partridge, b ...

announced that they had acquired the series for release in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Madman Entertainment Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, is an Australian distribution and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising in feature films, documentaries and television series across theatr ...

acquired the series for release in Australia and New Zealand, and simulcasted the series on AnimeLab. To promote the anime, Tokyo Marui made a limited edition

FN P90 The FN P90 is a compact 5.7×28mm personal defense weapon designed and manufactured by FN Herstal in Belgium. It can also be considered a submachine gun. Created in response to NATO requests for a replacement for 9×19mm Parabellum firearms, th ...

submachine gun with a pink finish as part of a collaboration with Keiichi Sigsawa and Kōji Akimoto, the latter who worked on the air gun's color. The pink P90 was raffled to the public through a raffle in a collaboration with Pizza Hut Japan, in which two of them were awarded to contestants.

Video game

Llenn, Pitohui, M, and Fukaziroh made their video game debut in '' Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet'' as a free update. They later have a major role in the DLC episode "Dissonance of the Nexus", which is also the first time they interact with the main series characters.

Reception

During the first half of 2015, the series was the 11th best-selling light novel series, with its first and second volumes ranking at 8th and 17th place, respectively. The 4th volume also managed to be the 25th best-selling novel during the first half of 2016. As of May 2018, the series had 1 million copies in print.

Notes

References

External links

* * *
Elsa Kanzaki website
* * {{3Hz 2018 anime television series debuts 2014 Japanese novels 3Hz Anime and manga based on light novels Aniplex franchises Dengeki Bunko Dengeki Daioh Girls with guns anime and manga Isekai anime and manga Isekai novels and light novels Kadokawa Dwango franchises Massively multiplayer online role-playing games in fiction Muse Communication Seinen manga Sword Art Online Television shows written by Yōsuke Kuroda Virtual reality in fiction Yen Press titles